New York—Some independent jewelers saw green on Black Friday, but others worried they may end up in the red if sales don't pick up as the holiday season progresses. "Friday started off very slowly in the morning," says Evan James Deutsch, owner of Evan James Ltd., in Brattleboro, Vt. "I think everyone had a Thanksgiving hangover. But it really picked up in the afternoon."Store sales increased 20 percent on Black Friday this year, compared with last year, Deutsch says, fueled by diamond stud earring and products priced between $300-$500.

The favorable sales continued through the rest of the weekend, and Deutsch has a positive outlook for the next few weeks."We had a great first weekend," he says. "We're very optimistic about the rest of the year."Steven Duvarney, owner of Duvarney Jewelers in Fitchburg, Mass., has a somewhat more cautious outlook about the holiday season, following average sales over the weekend.

"Black Friday was typical of what we would normally see on Friday and Saturday," he says. "For us, as a downtown store, most of the action takes place in the last two to three weeks of the season, so it's hard to get a feel yet for how sales will be. But so far, we are on par with last year."A disintegrating local economy made sales "lousy" at Leonard's Jewelers in Mount Airy, N.C., says owner Walter Leonard, citing the recent closure of two textile plants that employed local residents.

"There was a lot of traffic, but sales for us were down," he says. "I'm afraid it might be like this for the rest of the year. I hope it's not like this, but I think it might be."In the South Central region, retailers say they found either strong traffic or strong sales, but not both. Kelly Newton of Newton's Jewelers in Fort Smith, Ark., says he saw a number of new faces in the store over the holiday weekend."Saturday was quite busy, with more people looking, but not buying—more people we hadn't seen," he says.

As for Black Friday, Newton says it was as busy, if not busier than last year, with top sellers including diamond solitaire earrings and engagement rings, diamond stud earrings and Rolex watches.When asked what he thought was driving traffic into the 92-year-old store, Newton says he was unsure, though he'd love to know the answer."We don't run specials, we're not a monster advertiser—we've just been around a long time," he says.Jeff Fox of Barnes Jewelry also says Black Friday was a busy day for his Amarillo, Texas store."Traffic was incredibly good on Friday, but as far as buying, not as strong," he says.

However, Fox says combined sales from the weekend were up 15 percent from last year. Regarding best sellers, Fox says jewelry across the board sold well."Probably the strongest thing, ironically, was diamond and color fashions—rubies and sapphires," he says. In San Antonio, Texas, Aaron Penaloza of C. Aaron Penaloza Jewelers says his store saw very light traffic but good sales. Penaloza attributes the light traffic to the store's neighborhood strip-center location."A lot of our customers go out of town for the holidays, and when they do shop [at holiday time], they go to the malls," he says. Despite light traffic, the retailer came away from the holiday weekend making a number of key sales, including a carat-and-a-half Asscher-cut diamond for a custom pendant and a pair of Kwiat diamond earrings, bought by a Hurricane Katrina victim from Louisiana.

"She saw them last year, but didn't think she could spend money on diamonds," Penaloza says.After having her home rebuilt this year, she returned, remembering the starburst-patterned earrings she saw in the store the year before. All in all, Penaloza has high hopes for this year's holiday sales."We had a phenomenal November last year and expect to do even better this year," he says.With an unseasonably warm holiday weekend in the Cleveland area, Chad Schreibman, co-owner of Alson Jewelers, says business was good, but potential shoppers may have decided to enjoy the sunny weather—which reached the high sixties—versus getting a jump on holiday gifts.He says the store was up about 7 percent for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but that he had hoped for an even stronger start to the season.

"Sales were good actually, but I was hoping to have a little bit more traffic," he says. "I think the weather may have kept a few people from shopping."Overall, he's encouraged by growth of 12 percent through the first 11 months of the year."We never really look at this weekend as a tracker because I don't think in our industry it's as big a deal [compared to the big-box retailers]," he says. "Our month has been great and that's a better barometer as opposed to the big Black Friday weekend."Designers such as David Yurman and Roberto Coin were among his best sellers for the weekend.

At Anshus Jewelers in Menomonie, Wis., owner John Anshus says sales saw a spurt, but that the store and area tend to build as the season goes along. "It's doing well for us, but we get a slow start and it accelerates as it continues, right up through Christmas," he says.Early shoppers snatched up pendants and earrings in everything from gemstones to diamonds, he says.As with last season, the circle pendants look to be popular again, and he anticipates that Journey diamond jewelry will start gaining traction in the coming weeks."It takes a while for the more rural population to get moving," he says.In the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Wash., Alvin Goldfarb Jewelers had a surprisingly strong Black Friday, according to owner Steven Goldfarb."I was surprised—we did well.

I thought it would be slow because that's sort of a big-box electronics day, but we had very nice steady business, and we were probably up 10 percent on Saturday," he says.He said he sold a little bit of everything, mostly in the $1,000 to $2,500 range. "It feels like people want to get their shopping done earlier," he says.Also seeing what he called a surprisingly good Black Friday was James C. Jessop, owner of George Carter Jessop Jeweler in downtown San Diego.

"We had more people in, both looking as well as we closed more sales than we usually see that day after Thanksgiving," he says. "It's generally not a strong day for us, so it was a pleasant surprise."He attributes this success in part to better planning and also to the store's location, since clients who want to shop without the mall headaches can turn to the by-appointment jeweler.Business was slower—with more browsers than buyers—at Gleim Jewelers in Palo Alto, Calif.

"The last couple of days, the traffic was mostly people looking but not quite ready to commit. Hopefully that turns into a sale," says Richard T. Velayo, store manager.He says vendor trunk shows and a watch event the store has scheduled for the next two weeks will hopefully encourage people to buy."It's been slow. I'd say clients are still on the cautious side," Velayo added.
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